WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO
A crown of dense clusters of yellow flower heads cover the numerous stems forming a bushy subshrub to 4-feet tall. Note the stems and thread-like leaves are hairless, and the yellow flower heads have only 5 petal-like rays, and 8 even-sized phyllaries beneath the rays with tiny or no bractlets.
FLOWER: June–October. Flat-topped to rounded arrays with 10–20 flower heads per stem; ±5 yellow ray flowers, linear, 1/2-inch long (8–12 mm), disk flowers yellow; ±8 phyllaries, green tipped; 0–3 tiny bractlets beneath the phyllaries.
LEAVES: Alternate, same size, evenly distributed along stem. Blades green, hairless, 2–4-inches long (5–10 cm) with linear to thread-like lobes to 1/4-inch wide (6 mm).
HABITAT: Sandy, gravelly soils, grasslands, roadsides, disturbed areas; desert grasslands and scrub, shortgrass prairie, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa woodlands.
ELEVATION: 3,500–10,500 feet.
RANGE: AZ, CA, NM, NV, TX, UT, WY.
SIMILAR SPECIES: About 22 species of Senecio in NM, 2 others with thread-like leaves, both hairless. Threadleaf Grounsel, S. falccidus var. monoensis, is hairless, has ±21 phyllaries, and bractlets 1/2 the length of the phyllaries or longer. Riddell’s Groundsel, S. riddellii, is hairless and usually has 13 phyllaries and 8 rays. See key below.
NM COUNTIES: Nearly statewide (absent se plains) in low- to high-elevation, dry habitats: Bernalillo, Catron, Cibola, Colfax, Curry, De Baca, Dona Ana, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, Los Alamos, McKinley, Mora, Otero, Quay, Rio Arriba, Roosevelt, San Juan, San Miguel, Sandoval, Santa Fe, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, Torrance, Union, Valencia.
KEY to 3 species with thread-like leaves
1. Woolly-hairy leaves, bractlets beneath phyllaries minute or absent ... S. flaccidus var. flaccidus
+ Leaves hairless or nearly so ... (2)
2. Conspicuous bractlets 1/4 to 1/2 or more the length of the phyllaries, phyllaries 13 or 21, tips green or black … S. falccidus var. monoensis
+ tiny or no bractlets under phyllaries ... (3)
3. Tiny bractlets, less that 1/3 length of phyllaries, phyllaries mostly 13, tips green, rays 8 … S. riddellii
+ Bractlets absent or inconspicuous, phyllaries mostly 8, tips green … S. sparticoides
BROOM GROUNDSEL (RAGWORT)
SENECIO SPARTICOIDES
Aster Family, Asteraceae
Perennial herb
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Narrow leaves have thread-like lobes (arrow).
No, or only tiny, bractets (arrow) are beneath the ±8 phyllaries .
Flower heads have ±5 yellow ray flowers.
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